The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The concepts herein described can relate to an open roof construction for a vehicle, comprising a roof opening which is provided in a stationary roof part of the vehicle, a movable panel for selectively opening and closing said roof opening, and a wind deflector positioned at the frontal edge of the roof opening, which wind deflector is provided with an upper frame member and a flexible member attached with one edge to said upper frame member.
The wind deflector provided in such an open roof construction is a device that generally projects upwardly along the frontal edge of the roof opening. As the vehicle moves forward, the wind deflector deflects the air which otherwise would cause disturbing noises when the movable panel is in a position for opening said roof opening.
Recent types of open roof constructions comprise wind deflectors which, at least partially, are made from a flexible material of some sort, thus reducing the overall weight of the wind deflector. Further, when the wind deflector is of a type which is movable between a retracted position and an extended position, the use of such flexible materials reduces the storage space needed for the wind deflector in its retracted position within the stationary roof part.
However, with this type of wind deflector it is very difficult to make sure that the entire wind deflector (and, especially, its flexible member) is tensioned over its entire width. Often one can see, that the transversally outer ends of the flexible member are taut, whereas its inner section is not perfectly so. Not only does this provide a wind deflector with an unattractive appearance, but also does it negatively influence the efficiency in deflecting the air in a proper manner. In some cases even such a wind deflector can actually increase the noise level in the vehicle due to resonance of the flexible material. Moreover, an increase of wear will then occur.
Attempts have been made to overcome such problems. One such an attempt is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,503. In accordance with the solution shown therein, the upper frame member is upwardly bent to provide a predetermined tension over the width of the flexible member. Such a solution, however, means that the upper frame member itself is flexible, but such a flexible upper frame member is not sufficiently rigid to fulfil specific demands.